The Do’s and Don’t of Customer Service: How To Make Your Customer Happy?

The words “go above and beyond for the best customer service experience,” “the customer is always right,” and “the customer is king” have all become clichéd and overused in marketing.

Did You Know? Customer happiness has a significant impact on the success of your organization. A low level of satisfaction equals a low level of customer retention and loyalty, and it’s also an indication of poor customer service, which costs firms up to $62 billion per year!

Business owners, marketing directors, and managers across the board are all focused on providing exceptional customer service. Nonetheless, terrible customer service exists and, unfortunately, the do’s and don’ts of customer service  are often overlooked. Are we, in our pursuit of perfection, overlooking some fundamentals on the do’s and don’ts of customer service?

The expectations of today’s tech-savvy, always-connected consumers for fast, individualized service have elevated the customer experience to the forefront of brand strategy.

Take a look at the do’s and don’ts of customer service so you may provide better service to your clients.

6 Fundamental Do’s of Customer Service

• Create Memorable Customer Experiences

Creating exceptional customer experiences is essential to building brand loyalty and increasing sales. According to a Wunderman study, 79% of consumers said they will only do business with a company that demonstrates genuine concern for them.

Given that it was destined to surpass price and product as the primary brand differentiator by 2022, as customer experience has an increasing impact on customer happiness. As a result, it is advisable to start focusing on providing wonderful experiences to your clients.

• Make Sure You’re Using The Right Tools

Knowing your clientele is crucial. And h aving the correct resources at hand makes it simple. You’d be astounded at the number of significant conversations you can have when you no longer have to wander around in the dark.

• Address Your Customers by Name

Using the client’s name when speaking with them in person, on the phone, over email, or when creating customer surveys is one of the greatest methods to provide a more personalized customer experience. The consumer-business relationship is humanized by using a friendlier style that doesn’t feel forced.

Consider Starbucks, one of the most successful companies in the world with a high Net Promoter Score and billions of dollars in annual sales. To provide the groundwork for a long-lasting connection established on recognition, the foundation of exceptional customer service, Starbucks personnel always use customers’ first names when greeting them, calling their drink, or thanking them for their visit.

• Allocate Roles

It’s crucial that every member of a customer care or support staff understands their role in the team and how their contributions will affect the group as a whole and the organization as a whole. For more significant complaints, such as when a customer requests to talk to a manager, this is crucial.

Customer service is also enhanced because employees who feel more invested in the firm and its success are more likely to take responsibility for and work to fix any issues that arise.

• Communicate Clearly With Customers

When you master one thing, you unlock your full potential in every other area. There are few jobs where this is more important than in support; effective communication is crucial because it influences all aspect of your work.

The way you dress can have an impact on how you’re perceived. What you say can be interpreted differently depending on your tone. A common faux pas is to use passive-aggressive language (such “Actually…”) or to use slang, colloquialisms, or technical jargon, all of which might confuse clients.

• You are being transferred. We value your call very much.

• Hello, Jane. I’ll put you in touch with our customer success specialist, who will be able to better answer your question!

• Always Follow Up

Maintaining consistent contact with customers is an excellent way to earn their trust and ensure that everything continues to run smoothly. As a bonus, this makes them feel like they were more than simply a number in your books.

Simply sending birthday congratulations or a handwritten thank-you card for completing a year together is a great way to keep in touch with your contacts. There are many methods to express your gratitude to a customer, but these are just a handful

A customer service follow-up call is a great way to check in and make sure everything is going well with a previous purchase, but it should never be used as a sales pitch. Remember that your customers’ time is valuable, and try not to bother them too often.

6 Fundamental Dont’s of Customer Service

• Don’t Make Things Unprofessional

In the heat of the moment, losing your cool and not acting professionally is one of the worst things you can do. It should go without saying that any form of profanity or insult directed at a client will not be tolerated, regardless of how unpleasant or disrespectful the customer may be.

Keep in mind that while customers speak for themselves, you represent the firm as a whole in your role as a customer support representative.

There are two approaches to analyze the interactions you have with clients. There’s the option of seeing them merely as a business transaction or a routine task.

There’s the option of seeing them merely as a business transaction or a routine task. Second, you might consider them in terms of your connections, as individuals whose opinions and requirements need your consideration.

The former is an easy way to lose regular consumers, while the latter may go a long way toward retaining patrons, fostering brand loyalty, and inspiring word-of-mouth marketing that attracts new purchases.

• Don’t Avoid Accountability

Accepting responsibility for one’s mistakes is crucial. Accepting blame for a customer’s misery even when you had nothing to do with it is a sign of good customer service.

Sincerity is highly prized by patrons. Customers that experience problems with your company may be persuaded to work with you again if they realize that you are sincere about making amends if they have any reason to have done so.

• Don’t Create Obstacles

The hassle of getting help should never outweigh the difficulty of the underlying issue. No one enjoys being subjected to interminable hold periods, a multitude of

rules of customer service excellence, several phone transfers, and/or the assistance of incompetent personnel.

Customers who experience this repeatedly (and for some, even once) are likely to reconsider doing business with the company in question. A company’s customer service is only as good as the experience it provides its clients.

• Don’t Make Promises You Can’t Keep

Always be honest in attending to customers’ needs instead of trying to sugarcoat the truth or making empty promises. It’s tempting to tell a customer what they want to hear, but honesty is required when there’s a chance their request won’t be fulfilled.

Assume, for the sake of argument, that a customer has asked for an item to be shipped to them earlier than expected. The most that can be done is to request that the logistics company prioritize the customer’s order and cross your fingers that their needs are met.

Rather than promising an expedited delivery, it’s better to let the consumer know that you’ve sent along their request to the logistics team and will do everything in your power to fulfill their needs. This is related to being open and honest with your customers and emphasizing your desire to fulfill their requirements.

• Don’t Embrace Complaints

An unexpected negative customer experience is the worst kind. Customer complaints will always be there. Complaints can be less severe, however. All that can be accomplished is to amass as many consumer complaints as possible. Take consumer feedback as an opportunity to strengthen your operations and enhance future interactions with clients.

• Don’t Turn Away from Customer Feedback

It shouldn’t take a genius to figure out that the only way to improve your customer service is to pay attention to your consumers. There will always be people on either end of the feedback spectrum who don’t fit the norm, but that doesn’t make it any less important to look at the data and act accordingly.

Final Thoughts

Hiring the right people who are sincere, patient, and empathic is the first step in providing excellent customer service. When a business has a solid base of excellent customer service representatives, it may develop a strong, cohesive customer service division where all representatives speak and act in a similar manner.

When you run a Voice of the Customer (VOC) program and track your Net Promoter Score to manage customer services, you can learn a lot about the do’s and don’ts of customer service and their level of satisfaction with your offerings.

We understand that doing customer satisfaction surveys from scratch can seem like a daunting task, but we also have good news: Xoopah is a fully-integrated, automated platform designed to help you with this very thing. For better understanding and attending to customers’ needs and what they want to hear, our solution is able to integrate information from several databases, including customer relationship management (CRM) programs, financial records, and sales information.